Tech jobs spreading to major cities outside of London

A new report has found that 28 per cent of tech jobs being advertised are located in cities outside of London.

The Tech Cities Job Watch report, produced by Experis, analysed in excess of 54,000 IT jobs across the UK, and found other major cities besides London are becoming tech hubs, with the front runners being Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Glasgow and Manchester – those five seeing over 11,000 tech jobs between them.

Salaries are rising too, to be competitive with London rates, so while the capital’s average remains highest with a full-time tech role hitting £51,588 on average, others aren’t too far behind. Cambridge leads the following pack on £40,994, followed by Birmingham and Glasgow on £39,733 and £39,143 respectively.

The research also found that the skills most in demand were mobile and web development, both in and away from London. The best paid jobs, however, were in big data – though there weren’t so many of these opportunities, with only 8 per cent of jobs advertised pertaining to data crunching. Two-thirds of the jobs were mobile and web development roles, in marked contrast.

Geoff Smith, Managing Director, Experis Europe, commented: “There are strong indications to suggest that tech job opportunities are on the rise throughout the UK. We’re seeing an increasing number of London-based companies establishing remote working centres to ensure their hunt for IT skills doesn’t miss out on talent that sees more appeal in the quality of life outside the capital – this could be one of the factors driving this shift.”

He added: “And with the continued investment in rail and road infrastructure to better connect northern towns and cities, the future is looking bright for businesses that take the right steps to manage their talent pool.”